Rally for Justice brings supporters to pre-election event at Copeland

With three weeks to go until the election, La Crosse residents got a chance to register to vote at a Copeland Park event Sunday.

The celebration was a ‘Rally for Justice,’ aimed at giving several groups a voice, according to organizer Ron Malzer.

“A number of groups have been hit hard and we need to be supporting their rights, and that’s women, people of color, the LGBT community, immigrants and environmental justice,” Malzer said. “We need to be supporting all of those and they all kind of go together.”

Speaking on behalf of one of those groups at the rally was La Crosse County associate administrator Jane Klekamp.

“Every single one of us has changed our behavior,” she said, “based on the fear we are all taught to have as girls and as women — don’t walk alone at night, don’t drink too much, don’t wear the wrong outfit. November 6 is coming.”

Rally organizers called the event an ‘everyone votes’ meeting, at which attendees could register to vote. Early voting for November in La Crosse begins today.

Local Unitarian minister Krista Taves urged people to vote this fall, if they’re upset with conditions in America.

“Every vote is a voice and with every voice comes a story that needs to be heard by those who serve us,” Taves, a Canadian native who recently became a U.S. citizen, said. “And, if they don’t listen, what are we going to do? Vote them out.”